Standing In the Breath of God

The Discovery Channel has a show called Beyond Human Limits. Some pretty fascinating tales on that show. One in particular remained with me. A woman, a musical composer and arranger by trade, was suffering from unbearable headaches. She was examined and was found to have an aneurism at the base of her brain. It was inoperable. She was told by everyone that she consulted that it meant certain death. She then found a neurosurgeon who had perfected a technique that would allow him to operate on the aneurism, but in order to do this she had to first die. The procedure was done as a type of cryo surgery. The body temperature was slowly brought down in order to stop the heart and drain the blood from the body while at the same time the patient was given some specialized medication to stop the metabolism in her brain and therefore halt her brain waves. Technically...she is dead. I wont go into much more detail about that because what facinated me was her "near death experience"

She recalls being in the operating room, looking at the procedure. Is able to recall special instruments that were used, some very tiny, that some of the other technicians did not see. She can recall conversations that she could not have possibly heard because at that time they had her ear canals plugged and she had no brain waves. There was more proof, but still...not what stuck in my head.

She said that while watching this, she saw far off in the distance a pin prick of light (I know we all expected to hear that) and that she distinctly heard her grandmother calling to her. When she moved toward the light and the voice she remembered feeling that she did not belong there, that she had not led a perfect life, she was not a perfect person. She said her grandmother told her that no one is perfect and that she had to think of it as "we sent you away to school and we expected you to spill your milk. It is in the way that you cleaned it up that is the source of our pride." (wait, it gets better)

She then asked her grandparents if the light was God. Their response to her was "That? No. That is what happens when God breathes." She was astonished. "I am standing in the breath of God!"

Oh my word...could you imagine feeling that?!?!?

The story continues and she survives the surgery and recounts the events to several people and psychologists who try to say there is no way she could have remembered this since she had no brain waves but her neuro surgeon ended the argument by stating that it would be arrogant and egotistical to say that just because we can't explain it, doesn't mean it isn't possible. (Kudos to that man!)




I don't know, I think that the next time I find myself sitting in some sunlight (which is not even close to the brightness that this woman was describing) I might try to imagine that I am "standing in the breath of God!"